699 



ing any alarm as to the safety of Sir John Franklin and his brave 

 companions, but it is impossible for us not to be anxious on their 

 account. Let us hope that the same gracious Providence that 

 shielded Sir James Ross amongst the icebergs of the South will 

 protect also our adventurous sailors in the North. 



Since our last Meeting in June, I trust, Gentlemen, that you will 

 think that our Apartments have assumed a more creditable appear- 

 ance. It is more than forty years since our rooms were painted ; a 

 long period in the smoky and dingy atmosphere of London. I hope 

 the time may come when ingenuity and science combined may, in 

 some degree at least, abate this great drawback to the convenience 

 and comfort of the British metropolis. Your Council, and that of 

 our friends and neighbours, the Society of Antiquaries, feeling that 

 they ought not longer to delay to repaint their respective apartments, 

 have united in doing so to the staircase and ante-room, which are 

 common to both Societies. I am happy to add, that by the care 

 that has been taken in the management of this "alFair, its expense 

 has been much reduced from that on the former occasion. Its cost 

 has, however, been still necessarily considerable ; but I trust that it 

 has been so well done, that though we cannot expect such a period 

 as forty years again to intervene, yet that it will be some time be- 

 fore we are obliged to repaint our apartments. 



In spite of this unusual expense, I am glad to say that our finances 

 are in so good a state, that we have been able to invest in the pub- 

 lic funds the large sum of two thousand pounds. You must not 

 however imagine that this is the surplus of the present year ; for the 

 truth is, that according to our usual custom one-half of this sum 

 would have been funded immediately after our Anniversary, and 

 would so have come into our financial statement of next November. 

 The lowness of the funds, and the present state of the money mar- 

 ket, have rendered it expedient for us to invest the m^oney without 

 further delay. A portion of our surplus has arisen from the unusual 

 circumstance that two of our Fellows who had paid annual sub- 

 scriptions have compounded in the last year ; their composition has 

 produced the sum of eighty pounds, but of course our annual in- 

 come is by this means proportionably diminished. 



During the last year, an important alteration has been made in 

 our Statutes with reference to the election of new Fellows, as you 

 must be well aware. This change was made with the approbation 

 of a large majority of your Council. As I was one of those who 

 entertained considerable doubts of its prudence and expediency, I 

 cannot claim any praise if it prove advantageous to the Society, nor 

 must I be considered responsible in case of its failure. Having been 

 adopted, however, it appears to me that it ought not hastily to be 

 either rescinded or modified ; that it ought to have a fair trial, for 

 the experience of many years can alone decide whether it be inju- 

 rious or beneficial. 



Many of you. Gentlemen, must be aware that a much more strin- 

 gent regulation was at one time in contemplation, which would have 

 affected your privileges. Had not that proposition been abandoned, 



